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"EA to publish Half Life 2"

I should've posted this in one of the console forums, oh well...

Just over three months ago, one of the most contentious relationships in game history came to an end. On April 28, after months of overt legal disputes and covert bickering, VU Games and Valve Software announced they were ending a half-decade-long publishing deal. The arrangement saw the former publish the latter's groundbreaking PC first-person shooters Half-Life, Counter-Strike, and Half-Life 2.


However, Valve's next console game--after the PlayStation 2 Half-Life and the Xbox Counter-Strike--will be distributed by one of VU's main rivals. Today, Electronic Arts revealed that as of this fall, it will be the international publisher of the forthcoming Xbox version of Half-Life 2, which will now ship in October 2005. EA will also assume distribution duties on a new Game of the Year edition of Half-Life 2 for the PC, which will include Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source, as well as Half-Life 2: Deathmatch and Half-Life: Source, in a single box.

However, Valve will now officially self-publish all its PC products, although the newly announced--and carefully worded--agreement will let EA "deliver a collection of Valve games to players worldwide" in the future.

"We consider Half-Life and Counter-Strike to be two of the best game franchises of all time," said Tom Frisina, vice president and general manager of EA Partners, in a statement. "We could not be more excited to have the opportunity to help deliver these outstanding games to players around the globe."

Valve founder and president Gabe Newell had similarly kind words. "By combining EA's unparalleled operation structure and distribution channel with Valve's award-winning development teams and games community, we've established an awesome combination for delivering great products to console and PC gamers around the world," he said.

The EA-Valve arrangement covers the boxed, retail editions of Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source but does not affect digitally distributed versions of the game. As before, those games will be delivered and updated via Steam, Valve's online service.

This is great news. I cant wait for Half Life Underground 2006.

Hedfix wrote:
> Damarus wrote:
> I'm guessing that by your yet again ignorant attitude that you gave
> keyboard and mouse a decent try
>
> Riiiiight. So by giving PC gaming a decent try I've somehow got an
> ignorant attitude to it?
>
> How much of a fool are you trying to look like exactly?

It was sarcasm...

> I started on PC, I've been playing games on personal computers since
> I was about 7 and up until the N64 consoles were crap. Now I've grown
> up and found consoles to offer the better experience and quite frankly
> the better players to play with too.

I had much more fun with a SNES and a Megadrive than I did with the N64 to be honest although they N64 was still excellent in every way.

I quit Xbox live because it was basically full of gimps. The games also feel very slow and sluggish compared to PC games as well as PC games offering much better multiplayer features.

I know this is opinion based however you've not justified any of the points you've made.

Damarus wrote:
> I'm guessing that by your yet again ignorant attitude that you gave
> keyboard and mouse a decent try

Riiiiight. So by giving PC gaming a decent try I've somehow got an ignorant attitude to it?

How much of a fool are you trying to look like exactly?

I started on PC, I've been playing games on personal computers since I was about 7 and up until the N64 consoles were crap. Now I've grown up and found consoles to offer the better experience and quite frankly the better players to play with too.

Hedfix wrote:
> Chippxero wrote:
> Basically everyone on the xbox and all consoles should just go out
> and
> get keyboards and a mouse.
>
> Ahahahaha!

EA & Valve?

So we'll have Half-Life 2005/2006/2007 every August?
Boooo, and the pc versions will be buggy as bugville with a rushed-to-finish development team being subsumed by a conglomerate with a less than stellar performance record.

Chippxero wrote:
> Basically everyone on the xbox and all consoles should just go out and
> get keyboards and a mouse.

Perhaps you guys should agree to disagree?

I've played consoles since I was about 4 and basically grew up using a pad. It wasn't until 5 or so years ago that I started pc gaming, therefore using a keyboard and mouse. Yes, it was a hassle at first but after so long it becomes easy, then better than a pad and then excellent. I also prefer playing most games using a keyboard and mouse now for the exception of sports games etc.

And you say you've played FPS's using a keyboard and mouse. I'm guessing that by your yet again ignorant attitude that you gave keyboard and mouse a decent try rather than the "I'll have a go. Oh wait. I've played 10 mins and this is horrible"?

Keyboard and Mouse all the way.

I solved it by buying a pad for my laptop, but I'm used to mouse/keyboard now.

Hedfix wrote:
> I think the cost alone is a pain in the ass. I'd rather have 3/5 new
> games than fork out for a new graphics card for one game.

The problem with the upgrade thing is that people find the cheapest card that will run a game to a satisfactory level, then start complaining when a new game comes out that stretches it.

The £200-£250 bracket is probably the sweet spot for price:performance as a generation is beginning and it should last for at least a few years. I'm still running a 9700 Pro (released in 2002) and BF2 is the first game in a long time where I've had to start toning down the settings away from max (discounting AA).

smv wrote:
> This is an age-old argument.

It is and I should have left it alone, as I said earlier on it's all down to opinion. :)